5.  The applicants were born in 1959, 1987 and 1990 respectively and live in Chişinău. The first applicant is the mother of the other two applicants.
6.  In 1998 the applicants’ family obtained from the first applicant’s employer a three-room apartment in Chişinău for their use.
7.  According to the first applicant, she was systematically beaten and insulted by her husband (V.B.). As a result, on 16 January 2007 the first applicant divorced V.B., but they continued living in the same apartment.
8.  The beatings continued, as confirmed by seven medical reports between September 2007 and January 2008 attesting to light injuries to the first applicant’s body caused by “blunt objects with a limited surface”. All the reports were prepared at the request of the Centru district police in Chişinău following complaints by the first applicant. The first applicant’s description of the origin of her injuries in all those medical reports was that V.B. had beaten her.
9.  On 1 April, 7 August, 7 September and 28 November 2007, as well as on 10 and 29 April 2008 the courts adopted six administrative decisions concerning the above beatings. The first of them terminated the proceedings in view of the parties’ friendly settlement of the proceedings. Another terminated the proceedings because of the expiry of the three-month limitation period for imposing an administrative sanction on V.B. In the four other cases the courts fined V.B. for beating and insulting her, although in one of them the court noted that the first applicant had provoked him. The fines imposed ranged from 140 to 300 Moldovan lei (MDL, the equivalent of, respectively, 8.65 to 18 euros (EUR) at the relevant time). V.B. paid all those fines. It appears from the parties’ statements that on an unknown date the prosecution initiated criminal proceedings against V.B. for attempted rape, but on 14 May 2008 the applicant withdrew her complaint and the proceedings were discontinued.
10.  According to a certificate issued by the Centru district police office, V.B. has been registered for supervision by that office as a “family trouble-maker” since 2007.
11.  On an unknown date in 2008 the first applicant lodged a civil action against V.B. seeking his eviction from the apartment. She relied on the evidence of V.B.’s violent behaviour. V.B. lodged a counterclaim, asking for the rooms in the apartment to be divided between himself and the rest of his former family.
12.  On 23 June 2008 the Centru District Court allowed the first applicant’s action and rejected that of V.B. The court found that V.B. had been violent towards the first applicant and had insulted her in front of their children, as evidenced by the medical reports and court decisions.
13.  On 30 October 2008 the Chişinău Court of Appeal upheld that judgment. In addition to the evidence relied on by the first-instance court, the Court of Appeal heard the two young men, who confirmed their mother’s testimony and asked for their father’s eviction.
14.  On 20 May 2009 the Supreme Court of Justice quashed the lower courts’ judgments and adopted a new one, rejecting the first applicant’s claims and accepting that of V.B. The court found that the lower courts had erroneously concluded that V.B. had systematically abused the first applicant. It noted that one of the court proceedings in which V.B. had been accused of beating the first applicant had been discontinued after the parties’ settlement of the case, while another had been discontinued because of the expiry of the time-limit for imposing a fine. In one of the remaining four decisions it had been mentioned that the applicant herself had provoked V.B.’s violence. The other three decisions were insufficient to prove systematic violent behaviour. Moreover, it had not been proved that V.B. suffered from alcohol or drug dependency. According to a certificate from the local apartment owners’ association, V.B. had not been known for causing trouble. In addition, V.B. had proposed to the first applicant that they privatise the apartment and sell it so that they could buy separate apartments, but the first applicant had refused. The court also found that the parties could continue living in their apartment and that V.B. could take one of the rooms, leaving the two other rooms to the applicants. There would be no change to the common areas. The judgment was final.
15.  Between 11 June 2009 and 5 February 2010 the first applicant spent time in hospital having treatment for tuberculosis. According to a medical certificate issued on 30 August 2011 by the applicants’ family doctor, she is recommended, inter alia, to avoid stress.
16.  Following the first applicant’s complaint to the Court V.B. continued behaving violently towards her. On 19 August 2010 he was fined administratively in the amount of MDL 400 (EUR 25.5 at the time) for insulting the first applicant. On the second occasion, after communication of the present application to the respondent Government, V.B. was fined MDL 200 (EUR 12.2) on 29 August 2011 for violence against the first applicant. According to a medical report made on 23 August 2011, the first applicant declared that V.B. had tried to rape her in the evening of 21 August 2011, but had not succeeded because of her resistance. The doctor found injuries on her body, caused by “blunt objects with a limited surface”, as follows: oval haematomas measuring 1.5 x 1 cm and 4 x 3cm on various parts of her arms, the lower part of her left thigh and the middle part of her right thigh, as well as on various parts of both legs.
17.  On 1 September 2011 the first applicant requested a court protection order for her and her sons. She described the latest events and the risk of further violence against her, as well as the authorities’ inability or unwillingness to ensure her own and her sons’ physical and psychological safety. In accordance with the provisions of Law no. 45 (see paragraph 21 below) she asked for V.B.’s temporary eviction from the common apartment, without deciding on the ownership of any assets; V.B.’s obligation not to come closer than 200 metres to her or her children and not to contact any of them, as well as not to visit the place of work or study of any of the applicants.
18.  On 2 September 2011 the Centru District Court adopted a protection order, valid for three months, agreeing to some of the requests, namely to stay at least 200 m away from the first applicant, not to contact her and not to visit her place of work. The court refused to order V.B.’s temporary eviction from the apartment. It found that he had acted violently against the first applicant, but that “it had not been established that [V.B.] had applied physical and/or psychological violence to [the second and third applicants]”. At the same time, V.B. had no alternative accommodation and in addition his right to use a part of the disputed apartment had been confirmed by a final judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice of 20 May 2009 (see paragraph 14 above). According to the Government, this order was brought to the attention of the local police and V.B.’s behaviour was subsequently monitored.
19.  The first applicant appealed, stating that by preserving V.B.’s right to live in the apartment with her the authorities had effectively put her at risk of further ill-treatment. Also, without his removal from the apartment at least temporarily the court’s protection order, in the part concerning V.B.’s staying at least 200 metres away from her, was deprived of any meaning and did not prevent any further ill-treatment or protect her against inhuman and degrading treatment caused by a private individual, despite a positive obligation to do so under the Convention. She added that according to a letter from the Social Assistance department of Chişinău Municipal Council, the apartment in which the first applicant and V.B. lived was composed of three rooms, two of which were suitable for living in, but only one was connected to the heating system.
20.  On 2 November 2011 the Chişinău Court of Appeal rejected the first applicant’s appeal, for the same reasons as those relied on by the first-instance court. This decision was final.